My apartment has literally become a glorified storage unit. I have way too much stuff that I do not need, or use and, most importantly, that I don’t have the proper space for. Every so often I’ll do some organizing and get rid some things but it never seems to get any better. I have always loved my apartment, but I don’t even enjoy my space anymore. All this to say that a few weeks ago I came to a breaking point. So, after seeing so many people on social media reading Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing”, I thought it might be worth a try.

I’ve only read a few sections, but I’m now officially in full Purgapallooza mode. So far I have only completely finished the first phase which is clothing, shoes and accessories, but I already feel lighter. And it’s no wonder, because I got rid of ALL of this…..

The crazier part? I still have a fairly full closet! But the difference is that most of it I like and wear regularly. The main concept in the book is that you should only keep things that “spark joy” when you see them or touch them. I know, when I read it I thought it sounded a bit hokey too. I certainly don’t get a spark of joy when I see every pair of undies I’ve kept through this purge. But the overall concept of keeping only things that you really love and want to wear is sound. And so far I haven’t missed a single thing, if fact, I barely remember what I got rid of.

The other thing that I found to be really useful from the book is Kon-Mari (Marie Kondo, get it?) methods of folding and storing clothes. Essentially, it comes down to folding things in thirds and putting them in a drawer upended. This way you see every item in your drawer without having to dig through a pile, and it uses the space more efficiently. These are my drawers with my clothes folded and stored in this method.

Right? So much easier to see things and the space-saving is incredible. I found that using drawer inserts (like the IKEA Komplement one shown in the first picture above) are helpful in cases where the items might not fill the entire drawer. Now I know what you are thinking. This will never last, and I won’t be able to keep this up. But trust me, I’ve been doing it for three weeks now and because it works so well and keeps things so organized, I’m actually keeping it up! This has definitely been the best takeaway from the book so far.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to be attacking my whole apartment. I’ve been purging office area and paper for the last few days (insert wide-eyed emoji here….), but I can finally see my desk so progress is being made! I’ll keep you updated as I go.